Much needed vacation

We just went on our little family summer vacation, and had a blast! We went down to Southern CA and went to the beach one day and Disneyland the other day. We started our trip off by staying the night at my cousin Becky's house and it was a lot of fun to see her family! T.J. and her little girl are the same age and it was fun watching them play. T.J. loved the break after the long drive down, to a house filled with kids and toys that he could play with, and it was really nice to go somewhere that he fit in so well in. (More relaxing for me because I wasn't worried he was going to break everything in a non-child proof house!!)

What cute little kids! So happy to be playing!

After spending some short but good time with Becky & family we went to the beach! We started out at Huntington Beach, where we walked the pier, played in the sand and dipped our toes in the water, and then we went and visited Newport Beach too.
T.J. is doing is "Smile!" face with his little fingers poking up his cheeks. :) So funny!

The second we walked onto the sand, T.J. was intrigued. He hasn't played in sand really ever before, so he really liked the new experience! It was hard to get him to walk towards the water cause all he wanted to do was sit and feel the sand with his hands and toes.
Steve taking T.J. to the water
It was such a pleasant day out there! (don't judge me in a swimsuit. I am not tan, I'm sorry. And I'm 30 wks pregnant.) Also, I have always heard that cloudy days are deceiving for sunburns but I didn't know whether to believe it or not. Well if you have ever doubted, take my advice: wear sunblock anyways!! I ended up with a painful sunburn to live through the next couple of days because I didn't feel like it was sunny enough to wear it myself.
Building sand castles! (sort of)
Probably our favorite part of the beach trip...eating at the restaurant on the pier! It was such a BEAUTIFUL view! Panoramic views eating over the ocean was definitely a neat experience! There was a seal that kept swimming to the surface and diving back in too, which was fun for us to see.

Our next day there was spent at DISNEYLAND!! I love Disneyland, it is so fun. We had a good time experiencing a different kind of Disneyland trip, with not going on any big rides due to pregnancy and a 1 year old. But T.J. was so good and really enjoyed almost everything we took him on! Steve wanted to take him into the Swiss Family Robinson (Steve's memory)/Tarzan (current) treehouse, because that was his favorite thing when he was little. So thats where we started!
T.J. and I on the Pirates of the Carribbean ride. Obviously it was exciting enough that he wouldn't look at the camera because he was watching other things!
Halfway through the day...all tuckered out. This nap made spending the entire day there doable!
So we had no idea there was a little petting zoo at Disneyland. The sheep and goats there are so tame. This was probably one of T.J.'s favorite parts of the day because he loves animals a lot.
He was brave to pet the goats a lot, until one "baa"ed at him really loudly. Then he was more hesitant. haha
This billy goat has a cool beard.
The highlight of our whole Disneyland trip...our visit to meet Winnie the Pooh! We were unsure how T.J. would react to him as a big character. He has some Pooh toys and the movie and really likes him and Tigger at home, but a huge Winnie the Pooh? Well he LOVED him. It was adorable. Pooh bear knelt down for T.J. to come to him, and T.J. turned around and backed into him like he wanted to snuggle on his lap.
There is a happy content little shy smile coming out in this picture. He was just in his own little heaven! haha
So cute!!! We were so glad we decided to wait in the line for T.J. to meet Winnie the Pooh!
He wasn't quite so snuggly with Tigger, but he liked seeing him too. He talks about "pooh" and "tih-tih" all the time.
Gotta love the teacups!
Its a Small World ride! This was our last ride of the day. T.J. is kind of blinking in this picture, but he was really tired by this time.

Yay for vacations! I love Disneyland. It was a lot of fun and T.J. and I loved being able to spend 4 whole days with Steve not worrying about anything at home! (Oh and here is a good pregnancy shot for me at exactly 30 weeks.) :)